I don't hate Hero, and in fact respect Dragon Quest for how influential it was to the RPG genre, but as a character matchup his spell randomness is annoying, and just not as appealing an addition for me overall as the other pass characters aside from Plant, but I welcome him nonetheless. /shrug
With the later addition of stage builder (the best one we've had for Smash yet imo with all the fun, creative, or memeatic stages of the online community) and then home-run contest, I feel I got most of what was lacking with Ultimate initially. World of Light pretty much was event matches repurposed, whether the mode was your cup of tea or not. I would have liked Smash Run from 3DS ported, along with some 3DS stages like Rainbow Road, but I get some of those would have been trickier to post than the rest, so I made my peace with it. Other than that, there could be a boss rush mode again still even though you have the end of WoL that can do just that (where you fight them all again before Galeem/Dharkon), but I don't know what else. Break the Targets would unfortunately be the Angry Birds version of SSB4 if brought back, because no way could they create unique target map layouts for 80+ characters... Board the Platforms in some form would be interesting though, especially since it was a little mode from Smash 64 that was never brought back. The Mario Party kind of randomness of Smash Tour would've been more fun if it had online, so guess I'd be for that if it was brought back that way. I always wanted another Melee kind of Adventure more though that's super replayable and not a one and done deal that's overly ambitious like Subspace, but it seems that style adventure mode was lightning in a bottle.
I was usually more into the general fighting aspect of Smash too at the end of the day, but still. And yeah, it's kinda unfair to blame or knock the fighter pass on what could've been for other modes, especially when those pass characters brought new stages of their own and added soundtracks and other little content.

I guess for me it would be something like Banjo > Terry > Byleth > Joker > Hero > Piranha Plant.
Piranha Plant just came off as another one of those characters that was interesting for the initial surprise and memes, but was quickly forgotten once he became available, especially when Joker was out afterward. I don't have a problem with PP being in the game roster, but it just seems to me that the occasional random shock characters nobody asked for like him don't really maintain much of a playerbase for the long run.
Despite the divisive FE saturation, I still ended up liking what Byleth added weapon and moveset wise, and with his/her frame data, find to be an evenly fun matchup for my namesake main.

I think I would've known if it was brought up before. This seems to be pretty new amongst the Metroid community. With how many Nintendo games in general that have had either like some character lines or content that had been altered in their localization (usually for censorship reasons with the latter), I wouldn't give NoA or whoever localized Other M the benefit of a doubt. We can't all have something as accurate as Capcom's localization team.
I personally take solace in that Samus was never ruined to the extent people thought just going by that video, at least far as what Sakamoto did judging from the Japanese version alone. The monotone subservient Samus in the english version is on the localizers, taking a certain good chunk of the blame off of Sakamoto.

Even the little things/changes can make all the difference in a scene. Context is important. Maybe at some point we could see a full Japanese playthrough of the game with english subtitles, to see the rest of the intended references to Fusion and stuff that we missed out on thanks to the changes in localization.
Japanese OM Samus from what I can gather is still consistently rebellious in her relationship with Adam as previously established, rather than subservient like what the english localization implied. Japanese Samus also certainly doesn't sound monotone in comparison with how she speaks.

This is bizarre learning now about 10 years later, but whoever translated & dubbed Other M seems to be responsible for most of the discourse that came of the game. The original Japanese lines were much closer to Samus’ previous characterization like in Fusion and the manga, like this instance here with the latter, with the top part being the original Japanese line.
None of that infamous shit like the Adam authorization is in the original Japanese script. What the hell. Obviously, this doesn’t absolve the game of all its flaws and faults, but NoA or some division failed everyone with the localization.
I wouldn’t bring up such a dead horse otherwise, but this is an important revelation. Had Other M been localized correctly, things might’ve been different. It probably would’ve still been divisive in the same vein that like Fusion and Prime 3 were, but it may have not been volatile enough to be the franchise killing/brand damaging game it became...

I don't have a problem with the preferred rules thing; it's not hard to usually come across the kind of matches you're looking for when you have your search rules set up as such, but I do feel the GSP system does more harm than good as a fictitious number that inaccurately rates one's worth as a player. Never was big on any online game rank system that gives you little point progression for winning, while the slightest loss always makes you plummet. Also mixed on how when your character loses enough GSP, it gets kicked out of Elite Smash, but I also see the appeal if you don't always want to fight Elite Smash players with your main and fight others more at your level if you're not a super hardcore smasher.
Wasn't sure if I wanted to bother posting this earlier, but guess I will now.
This finding is huge because if you recover this way with most characters, you'll have some invincibility during the getup. This is especially good for those whose disadvantage game is normally lacking or not that good.
The GimR's Lab youtube channel I would mostly recommend though for learning new mechanic fundamentals for Smash Ultimate, who still does consistent videos; the landing pivot attacks being his most recent one. This game is still in the process of being figured out mechanically with there being new things to learn.

Diddy Kong Racing could've done with a successor as well. Even with Rare gone, they could've delegated a sequel or something to another company I felt when DKR was another solidly received racer that wasn't Mario Kart, but the usual negligence happened I guess.
It should or may as well be "Nintendo Kart" at this point tbh. I hope you're right though.
That depends on your preference I guess. All the games at large (mainline and spinoff) have shared a singular timeline, but a game or spinoff that's independent of it would allow for more creative freedom.

@purple_beardI think Mario Kart's pretty much a black hole for any other Nintendo racing series. Why bother with another F-Zero, Waverace (now that I loved), or anything when Mario Kart sells more anyway? Now we got a mobile game for it even which insultingly has a better character roster and things than the last mainline game.
And yeah, it was the decrease in sales for Star Fox too. Though to be fair, SF Assault tried a solid non-SF64 approach, but with the shortcomings of the ground combat and some things, it was a concept ahead of its time. I blame Miyamoto for the motion control scheme of SF Zero though, as I felt Platinum did an otherwise solid job with the game for being a SF64 reboot. Like F-Zero though, Star Fox is one of those series now that Miyamoto can't bother to bring back unless he can think of some kind of gimmick with it, and he was never big on story with games, which was why he basically just redid SF64 which was his/Star Fox's magnum opus... And you're thinking of Starlink for that last part, but yeah, them never utilizing the online potential of Star Fox didn't help either. That's something made for co-op/online. Another 3rd party produced game with minimal Miyamoto influence is your best hope, or you'll just get another SF64 rehash.
Far as Kid Icarus, I don't know. How much did Uprising sell? Sakurai did very well in revitalizing the IP, but seems like another one of those niche series that comes and goes.
Oh yeah, I know Yamauchi himself wasn't perfect either. Kinda petty at times, even. Couldn't handle the fact the N64 hardware wasn't able to handle 3rd party games the way devs wanted and threw a fit. Him and his badmouthing was sorta the reason Nintendo lost relationships with other companies/3rd parties for awhile which it took Iwata to slowly mend, but even then...
Having Rare at the time was what saved the N64 from being an even worse performing system after that shitshow, giving the system a fairly stellar library with their games. Seriously, without Rare, the 64's library would've been pretty dry due to Nintendo's large loss of 3rd party support at that point, with only their few in-house produced games and not much else.
Back to Metroid though, Other M still sold well over a million at least thanks to the Wii install base, which by the series' standards was still pretty good far as sales, but again, because it wasn't an A-list franchise for Nintendo, you still saw its soon to be neglect with all those other factors coming into place... With how insular Nintendo became and felt with Metroid and other such series at that point, I doubt they even paid much attention to the schism and negative impact that Other M caused for the franchise, though with that said and back to what Ty was saying, Metroid's still in the process of recovering from the brand damage caused by 2010, and will need all the goodwill it can get from a solid mainline game or two before something more spinoff-y like another multiplayer focused game becomes a viable option.
And yeah, this. Not everything needs to be another Overwatch, even though I do see the potential in that for Metroid with its characters, but now I'd kinda rather see a revival of more old school arena type shooter combat if anything, with how long it's been.

I forgot Yamauchi retired around that time. So that was the point Nintendo started becoming more typical capitalism in how they handled their IP's? Explains a lot for me with all that in perspective...
Even if Metroid was never an A-list for them which I suppose you're right in the grand scheme of things, it still had plenty of fire in the early 2000's, but appears that was all just a perfect storm of multiple teams working on and experimenting with the franchise at the time. At first I thought the series' momentum merely died due to Other M's divisiveness and critical failure, but seems to me now there wouldn't of been another game for awhile regardless even if OM had been more successful amongst the fandom. The other creative minds behind the series were likely burned out awhile too after the Prime trilogy, even with other characters like Sylux on the mind. Multiple factors during the 2nd hiatus led to me realizing though that Metroid unfortunately wasn't one of those IP's big and successful enough to warrant keep having multiple games pushed out like that, despite its potential and usual quality. I'm glad the years of fan rallying eventually led to MP4 and some things, but unless Prime 4 breaks series' records with the Switch install base when it's out, best put a damper on something like hopes for an MPH successor kind of multiplayer game.
Oh, and yeah, F-Zero got the worst end of the deal, followed by Star Fox.

There's always bringing back the game's wi-fi for NSO if MPH got a port or something, because the game itself from 2006 is fine and otherwise holds up pretty well. But another game like it would be risky until we see MP4 out and actually breaking sales records. They know they have to play it safer for now after FF power bombed.
Still confident enough regardless that whatever we get with MP4 and beyond will give us more for the series than the 2010's did as a whole. The worst/dark days are behind us.

Smash has never had a major roster cut particularly though, and don't see why it would need to start now just to add in a few more newcomers. Not unless a next game rebuilt pretty much everything from the ground-up, but Smash under the direction it's been in since forever has had reused assets from game to game, making it easy to bring back most characters. Sakurai's expressively been careful when it comes to cuts which he said he doesn't like sometimes having to do, so I trust him.
He had similar reasoning as to why he hasn't largely changed any characters' moveset despite being a popular idea for years and years. There are some I would still like to see retooled, but I'm kinda over it. Change too much, you annoy some of the fans of old which Sakurai's well aware of. Is why we'll never have like a Ganondorf moveset that people will be happy with universally.

Melee glitch aside, Master Hand was playable in that one level toward the end of World of Light. An extra playable boss mode would be the only way for the rest of them I guess, but meh. Some of that other remaining content you mentioned that they could still include would be nice though. I would even pay for some of it.
With cuts for a future Smash being expected, Ultimate's roster being established as a one time thing, the best case scenario for me would be keeping most of the characters, except some 3rd parties whose licenses had run out. Some of the clones/echo fighters I could go either way on, but not like they take up real resources or character slots like some used to believe. Compared to other fighters, Smash has actually had the best track record in keeping most of its cast. Even Smash 3DS/Wii U which had the most cuts were minimal compared to what other fighting series' sequels have done. Long as Sakurai's behind the wheel, a position he's never been keen on giving up so easily, I don't think there'll ever be a Smash reboot or something that some have been obsessed with the idea of after Ultimate. Reboots of any kind are only ever necessary when a series faces a major decline, but with Smash being the hit monster it is, it'll be fine.
But yeah, this message, all this, I had been saying for awhile, which I didn't need Max to know. He's right though; even if the online's shit and worse never improves, people will still play it for all the content and subject matter. There will never be another Smash like this one, the ultimate tribute to Iwata. Reminder too that it'll be back competitive wise when offline tournaments are possible again. Ult had pretty much the biggest scene at EVO last year. No way it's staying down for good because of being one of few to not pass the netcode test during this uncertain time.

Ah, fair enough. I guess that's good reason to include Chris's sister all things considered, who hasn't had as much screentime as the other main heroes. And I actually hope Code Veronica (yes, is canon) gets remade next or at some point, despite the RE4 remake rumors... And if Jill got included in a MvC again, it would hopefully be more like the classic version (like MvC2) in lieu of the RE3 remake, though I didn't dislike the blond version in RE5/MvC3 like most did. She was cool too, but can't beat the classic iteration.

While I'm not sure how to feel about this title yet in relation to the previous Paper Mario's, this is definitely the closest time a game has been announced before being released. Guess they knew many would still get this one though regardless of when they revealed it and that its sales would get a boost by COVID in part like ACNH did. Nonetheless, glad the notion has been shut down that Nintendo had nothing planned this year beyond AC and the Xenoblade port. The Metroid tease was also nice I guess. On that note, more different artists have still been hired recently for Prime 4, so I think its development is going as well as usual despite COVID-19.

Apocalypse has always been my favorite Marvel villain, thanks to my introduction to him in the games and cartoons, and later the comics. Though he had a lackluster X-Men film in 2016, still would've been nice to see him included in like MvCI, before we later learned the revisionist reasons as to why the X-Men and pretty much anything not MCU was cut from the Marvel half. Apart from that though, always kinda perplexed me how underrated Apoc was when he's usually either depicted on Magneto's level or higher as a physical threat, and being the X-Men/X-Factor's Thanos archetype to boot. While he was depicted as a giant boss in X-Men vs Street Fighter (the precursor to MvC series), he has plenty other powers to work as a playable fighter without having to grow giant, though he could do so as a super move I guess in reference to his boss form.
And you must really not like Chris Redfield, lol. I like Claire, but would not cut Chris for her, with him being Wesker's main rival and all. Either Jill or the Nemesis I would still include too (both preferably) over like Leon, but that's just me.
Otherwise solid roster I guess. Is MvC2 still coming to EVO though? With it being entirely online this year from what I understand unless I'm mistaken, and well the online servers of that 2009 port were shut down long ago.

https://cosmicbook.news/henry-cavill-superman-supergirl
https://trinikid.com/supergirl-out-henry-cavill-in-as-he-comes-back-as-superman-rumors-say
Yes! Hopefully this pans out. Also Wonder Woman 3 pretty much confirmed I guess, tying in to the present time. Likely would've known about this sooner and saw some leadup to it had we gotten to see WW 1984 during its original release time if not for COVID, but good to know still there is that to also look forward to in the meantime.

I get the skepticism, but just seeing this kind of answer at all from a Nintendo Q&A following #FixUltimateOnline, is a good sign, and makes me a bit hopeful now, though keeping expectations in check still. If they don't fix it soon enough, then perhaps a disastrous EVO online will shake them up and will go from there.
And yeah. The Wii U version was the most niche Smash release by far with probably the smallest install base (easy to forget I guess how much the 3DS version prior devoured a lot of what could've been for Smash U) and didn't have all that traffic to deal with. Not like Smash U had an edge on Ultimate anywhere else though; the content, roster, character balance, or anything. I'd rather fight a laggy Sonic or Samus in Ultimate online than get bodied by Smash 4 Bayonetta with less lag if I had to pick my poison.

And the Switch date has been revealed... 10/10 game honestly from what I went through with the campaign and everything.
edit: I jumped the shark. That there is a parody account which I didn't look at closely enough at first. Just got hyped in the moment and posted.